Yongho-dong is a ''
dong
Dong or DONG may refer to:
Places
* Dong Lake, or East Lake, a lake in China
* Dong, Arunachal Pradesh, a village in India
* Dong (administrative division) (동 or 洞), a neighborhood division in Korea
Persons
*Queen Dong (1623–1681), princes ...
'' on the coast of
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...
, a major port city in southeastern
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. Its mainland portion is bordered on three sides by water, standing on a peninsula which separates
Busan Harbor from
Suyeong Bay. Its boundaries include the famed islets of
Oryukdo, and several other small uninhabited islands.
Yongho-dong is a legal ''dong''; for administrative purposes, it is divided into four administrative ''dong'': Yongho 1,2,3, and 4-dong. Yongho 1-dong alone, with more than 43,000 people, is the most heavily populated administrative dong in Nam-gu.
Yongho-dong is densely populated; its 7 square kilometers of land are home to more than 72,000 people. Thanks to its proximity to the harbor, it is also the site of a campus of the
Korea Institute of Maritime and Fisheries Technology.
There are varying accounts of the origin of the name "Yongho," which dates to the
Japanese occupation. The second syllable ''ho'' means lake, and refers to a
salt pan which once lay on
Suyeong Bay at the dong's north end. The first syllable ''yong'', which means "dragon," may have referred to a legend that the pan was inhabited by an ''
imugi
Korean dragons are legendary creatures in Korean mythology and folklore. The appearance of the dragon reflects its relation to its East Asian counterparts, including the Chinese dragons.
Korean dragons
Whereas most dragons in European mythology ...
'', a snake which failed to become a dragon. However, this syllable may also have simply been borrowed from the name of neighboring
Yongdang-dong, to signify "the lake next to Yongdang-dong."
The highest point in Yongho-dong is the low peak of
Jangsanbong, overlooking the harbor.
See also
*
Geography of South Korea
South Korea is located in East Asia, on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula located out from the far east of the Asian landmass. The only country with a land border to South Korea is North Korea, lying to the north with of the border ...
External links
Yongho 1-dong website, in Korean
{{coord missing, South Korea
Nam District, Busan
Neighbourhoods in Busan